Luis Alberto Urrea will give the fourth Ursrey Memorial Lecture at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 21 at Trinity United Methodist Church on Telfair Square.

With the generous support of Mrs. Alene Ursrey, Dr. John Hunt, and Betsy Cain, the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home (I was board president at the time) launched the Ashley and Terry Ursrey Memorial Lecture Series in 2008 in memory of the brothers Terry and Ashley Ursrey, native Georgians who, like Flannery O’Connor, were lifelong devotees of all things Southern, particularly the art of storytelling.

The first three Ursrey Memorial Lectures were given by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham (The Hours), man of letters Alan Gurganus (Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All), and National Book Award winner Jaimy Gordon (Lord of Misrule). Urrea seems like a great author to extend that impressive list.

Luis Alberto Urrea is a prolific and award-winning writer. Born in Tijuana, Mexico to a Mexican father and an American mother, Luis grew up in San Diego, California. He is a master of language and a gifted storyteller who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss, and triumph. The author of fourteen books, Luis Urrea has published extensively in many genres and has received many prestigious awards. The Devil’s Highway, his 2004 non-fiction account of a group of Mexican immigrants lost in the Arizona desert, won the Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His highly acclaimed historical novels, The Hummingbird’s Daughter and Queen of America, tell the story of Teresita Urrea, a great aunt who was a healer and Mexican folk hero at the turn of the 20th century. Luis is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He lives with his wife Cinderella (“Cindy”) and their youngest daughter in Naperville, IL.

The event is free and open to the public. There will be a reception and book signing immediately following the lecture.

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ABOUT SAVANNAH UNPLUGGEDIn my columns in the Savannah Morning News, I write about the local economy and culture. But those columns don't exist in a vacuum: I follow a wide variety of national news and experience Savannah much more deeply than I can possibly capture in three columns a week. So here on Savannah Unplugged, you'll find everything from nationwide economic trends to nightclub photos. I also contribute to the political blog Peach Pundit and the music blog hissing lawns.